The Guard emerged victorious in a marathon titled NA Valorant Challengers Stage 1 grand final against OpTic Gaming.
The Guard secured first in the main event and an illustrious playoff starting spot at the Masters Reykjavík international VALORANT event. Whereas OpTic has well had an amazing run and has booked a Master’s spot. Their matchup could be defined as the best two teams in NA.
With big names such as Trent, Sayaplayer, Yay, and Marved it had a lot of hype around it. The hype was worth it in the BO5 series as it was a nail-biter. It went right down to the stretch.
Upper Final: OpTic vs The Guard
The series stuck to a relatively normal script to start, with both OpTic and The Guard taking care of business on their respective map picks of Ascent and Icebox, respectively.
But, things took a turn when The Guard unleashed a suffocating first-half defense on OpTic’s pick of Breeze, taking the first half 10-2 en route to a 13-2 romp. OpTic then bounced back on Split, thanks to a splendid Chamber performance out of Yay.
This set the stage for a dramatic finish on the fifth and final map of Haven. OpTic produced a stellar first half on the attack, but The Guard would produce an even more proficient attack side, which included a six-round streak to take a 12-11 lead. In the final round of regulation, it was The Guard’s Jett star Sayaplayer delivering a crushing ace to secure the win on Haven and the 3-2 series victory.
Also read: Valorant Masters: Here are the first 3 teams to qualify for Masters 1 Reykjavik from the EMEA region
Teams qualified for Valorant Master’s 1 Reykjavik
- Team Liquid
- G2 Esports
- Fnatic
- DRX
- OpTic Gaming
- The Guard
- Paper Rex
- Zeta Division
- Xerxia Esports
- LOUD
